Lamy Safari

[Anne-Sophie]

On 2/19/2022 at 2:48 PM, inkstainedruth said:

Well, when the Dark Lilac came out a few years ago, there was someone on FPN (don't remember who now) who had been petitioning Lamy for a purple Safari for several years at that point, and was just EXULTANT at Lamy actually finally doing one.  When I finally decided I wanted one, I was originally thinking going really silly and getting a pink one -- but didn't like the color when I saw one in person.  And then?  Dark Lilac came out and it was ALL OVER..... 

Hmmm.  A Periwinkle Safari. I don't know whether I'd like that color unless it was really different from Violet.  A Periwinkle al-Star, OTOH?  Oh yeah....   I would DEFINITELY buy one of those, assuming it wasn't too close in color to last year's Azure (maybe a bright color, the way the Vibrant Pink al-Star is).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

 

Ruth it was I, who had been asking Lamy for a purple Safari for all those years.

 

Somehow, the fake Safari makers came up with a Barney purple shade.

Of course, I refused to buy it and told Lamy, on here that there were many ways to translate the concept of purple.

 

I was also extremely happy when they released the Dark Lilac, the same is true with Violet and Periwinkle would be bluer that the Violet but still in the purple/mauve family.

 

My take is, if Lamy can make many shades of yellow, orange and green they can do the same thing for purple.

 

This year's Al Star is silver, which looks attractive, so we have to see what they have in store for the Safari.

 

 

[Astronymus]

23 minutes ago, Anne-Sophie said:

This year's Al Star is silver, which looks attractive, so we have to see what they have in store for the Safari.

Strawberry and cream.

[inkstainedruth]

22 hours ago, Anne-Sophie said:

 

Ruth it was I, who had been asking Lamy for a purple Safari for all those years.

 

Somehow, the fake Safari makers came up with a Barney purple shade.

Of course, I refused to buy it and told Lamy, on here that there were many ways to translate the concept of purple.

 

I was also extremely happy when they released the Dark Lilac, the same is true with Violet and Periwinkle would be bluer that the Violet but still in the purple/mauve family.

 

My take is, if Lamy can make many shades of yellow, orange and green they can do the same thing for purple.

 

This year's Al Star is silver, which looks attractive, so we have to see what they have in store for the Safari.

 

 

Thanks -- I had completely forgotten who had been pushing for a purple Safari.  And so happy that you did.  

I quite agree with you about the many variations of green that Lamy keeps coming out with (zzzzzzz).  

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Pen Engineer]

what a wealth of information... I am sure someone can tell me when the first safari with a black nib came out?  Was this Lamy's first black nib, or had there been one on the cp1 before?

[Pen Engineer]

On 2/27/2022 at 1:55 PM, inkstainedruth said:

I quite agree with you about the many variations of green that Lamy keeps coming out with (zzzzzzz).  

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

Ahm... it's the plastics manufacturer who comes up with the colours

[Black Spot]

1 hour ago, Pen Engineer said:

what a wealth of information... I am sure someone can tell me when the first safari with a black nib came out?  Was this Lamy's first black nib, or had there been one on the cp1 before?

The first safari had a black nib and was produced in 1980 it came in savanna green and terracotta.

The two best colors ever. 

[Astronymus]

4 hours ago, Pen Engineer said:

Ahm... it's the plastics manufacturer who comes up with the colours

The manufacturer of the plastic granulates dictates LAMY their special edition colors? Seriously? Pretty sure they can order what color they want.

[christof]

8 hours ago, Pen Engineer said:

what a wealth of information... I am sure someone can tell me when the first safari with a black nib came out?  Was this Lamy's first black nib, or had there been one on the cp1 before?

 

Yes, I thinkt that the first LAMY with a black nib was the Safari in savanna grün in 1980, while the first terrarot still had a metal colored nib:

 

Lamy Safari Terra Red and Savanna Green 1980 by C.M.Z, auf Flickr

 

The white cp1 with black nib came in 1982 only.

[Pen Engineer]

14 hours ago, christof said:

Yes, I thinkt that the first LAMY with a black nib was the Safari in savanna grün in 1980, while the first terrarot still had a metal colored nib:

Oh great, thanks.  I am not sure, but I believe that the black nib came later.  At the launch, all safari fountain pens had stainless steel nibs.  

Do you know if the safari was the first black nib ever on the market?

[Pen Engineer]

18 hours ago, Astronymus said:

The manufacturer of the plastic granulates dictates LAMY their special edition colors? Seriously? Pretty sure they can order what color they want.

It takes a while to develop a colour pigment by a pigment laboratory, which is usually part of a plastics manufacturer.  It's a bit like: "Let's see what comes out!"  Then colours get matched with a plastic, which again influences the final colour.  Then, the pigment gets tested for stability. 

 

After that's all done, the new coloured plastic is released to the market.  

Once a company decides on using a colour, they will try to obtain the domain rights, meaning, the plastics manufacturer will not sell this colour to any of their competitors.  

 

What comes first?  The colour and if you like it, you make a special edition.  Good practice would be that you always have several of your choice colours ready to roll.  The market does not wait and wants to be satisfied.  That's marketing planning.  And that's done everywhere, not just Lamy.  

 

It's not like going to the pain shop and have your colour matched to a sample you bring.

[Pen Engineer]

15 hours ago, christof said:

 

The white cp1 with black nib came in 1982 only.

yes, that sounds about right.  That was after the cp1 diameter was increased to take the safari feed.

[Astronymus]

47 minutes ago, Pen Engineer said:

It takes a while to develop a colour pigment by a pigment laboratory, which is usually part of a plastics manufacturer.  It's a bit like: "Let's see what comes out!"  Then colours get matched with a plastic, which again influences the final colour.  Then, the pigment gets tested for stability. 

 

After that's all done, the new coloured plastic is released to the market.  

Once a company decides on using a colour, they will try to obtain the domain rights, meaning, the plastics manufacturer will not sell this colour to any of their competitors.  

 

What comes first?  The colour and if you like it, you make a special edition.  Good practice would be that you always have several of your choice colours ready to roll.  The market does not wait and wants to be satisfied.  That's marketing planning.  And that's done everywhere, not just Lamy.  

 

It's not like going to the pain shop and have your colour matched to a sample you bring.

Sounds like an easy job for the plastic manufacterer. Too easy. Especially because I know you can order whatever (technically possible) color you want. There are systems that combine basic colors as recipies into new colors. Quite like for offset printing. The color pigments are mixed into the granulates. They can come as powder or liquids. So you can order exactly the color you want. For example according to your company CD. Or matching the Pantone palette.

[Pen Engineer]

17 minutes ago, Astronymus said:

Sounds like an easy job for the plastic manufacterer. Too easy. Especially because I know you can order whatever (technically possible) color you want. There are systems that combine basic colors as recipies into new colors. Quite like for offset printing. The color pigments are mixed into the granulates. They can come as powder or liquids. So you can order exactly the color you want. For example according to your company CD. Or matching the Pantone palette.

It must be easy, then. 😄

[Astronymus]

9 minutes ago, Pen Engineer said:

It must be easy, then. 😄

In the end it's all a question of costs.

[Pen Engineer]

7 minutes ago, Astronymus said:

In the end it's all a question of costs.

Absolutely.  If the customer pays for it and if it increases profit with not much effort...

[bayindirh]

On 3/27/2022 at 11:44 AM, Astronymus said:

Sounds like an easy job for the plastic manufacterer. Too easy. Especially because I know you can order whatever (technically possible) color you want. There are systems that combine basic colors as recipies into new colors. Quite like for offset printing. The color pigments are mixed into the granulates. They can come as powder or liquids. So you can order exactly the color you want. For example according to your company CD. Or matching the Pantone palette.

 

Actually coloring plastics is not that easy since it changes characteristics of the plastic a lot. More information can be found here.

[christof]

On 3/27/2022 at 9:52 AM, Pen Engineer said:

yes, that sounds about right.  That was after the cp1 diameter was increased to take the safari feed.

 

There were two versions of the white cp1, an older slim version and a later one with increased diameter to take the safari feed.

[christof]

On 3/27/2022 at 9:31 AM, Pen Engineer said:

Oh great, thanks.  I am not sure, but I believe that the black nib came later.  At the launch, all safari fountain pens had stainless steel nibs.  

Do you know if the safari was the first black nib ever on the market?

 

As far as I know came the savannagrün from the first day on with a black nib:

 

[Pen Engineer]

14 hours ago, christof said:

 

There were two versions of the white cp1, an older slim version and a later one with increased diameter to take the safari feed.

yepp, that's correct.  The final safari feed was ready in early 1982

[Amontillado]

I'm very enthusiastic about my poor-man's fountain pen collection, an Opus 88, a few TWSBI's, and an inexpensive office store Waterman. There are also times when less elegant tools are justifiable.

 

Because of that, and in apology for a bad pun I left in their youtube comments, I ordered a couple of Lamy Safari rollerball pens from Anderson Pens.

 

Now that I've had a Lamy in my hands, I understand the appreciation for them. Great pens.

 

Various hacks are found for loading the Safari rollerball with a Pilot G2 refill. Some suggest cutting the end off an old plastic cartridge, which requires some accuracy. Another suggested a spitball-sized wad of paper, which would be useful if you needed to exfiltrate a small amount of data from a hostile embassy.

 

I hit on this idea - cut about a quarter inch (50 mm) off of a pencil eraser. I used a Pentel Clic eraser. The eraser is a loose fit in the pen barrel so it will fall right out when you want to get rid of it and it's springy. It can be slightly long and work in compression. You get a fit without rattles.

 

Regarding the bad pun I left on his youtube comments, Brian of Anderson Pens wrote that he found a radio for sale for just one dollar. It was discounted because the volume control was stuck wide open. Brian figured he couldn't turn it down.

 

I deserved that.

 

I'm not sure if I posted in the right area. The "it writes but it's not a fountain pen" area says that's for things that aren't fountain pens, except for those covered in the brand focus. Apologies in advance if this is an intrusion.